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#FactsFriday: adidas Consortium

The Consortium range by adidas is considered the highest-quality and most in-demand products made by the brand with the Three Stripes. Consortium doors are chosen very selectively, so it is a great honour that Shelflife are the only stores in Africa that get to sell the very pinnacle of adidas product.

Starting in 2005, the adidas Consortium initiative was aimed at connecting with the most influential retailers from around the world. These stores were at the forefront of their industry, operated in key cities and knew exactly what their customers wanted. adidas saw these connections as extremely important and therefore wanted to foster mutual respect between these retailers and the brand.

The original stores luckly enough to be part of the Consortium collaboration portfolio from day one included Undefeated, Footpatrol, Union and NEIGHBOURHOOD. The Consortium brand has no social media presence, but rather lets the retailers themselves speak on behalf of the collaborations from their own social media pages.

In early 2017, adidas Consortium announced its sneaker exchange program. 22 of the world’s leading sneaker retailers were selected to take part and co-design a sneaker with another retailer. The result was 11 pairs of premium-quality, completely unique collaboration sneakers which spanned across various adidas silhouettes. Stores involved included heavy-hitters like colette, Bodega, Kith, END, Solebox, as well as UNITED ARROWS & SONS.

The Consortium range has grown over the years to include more than collaboration sneakers with top retailers. Often when adidas decide to bring back a silhouette from their archives, or create something completely new, it’s introduced under the Consortium banner before Originals. This can be seen with the latest Deerupt and Twinstrike releases. It is therefore obvious why adidas are extremely selective with their Consortium doors. It's the best of the best, before anyone else. Other international Consortium doors besides Shelflife include Caliroots, Extra Butter, Concepts and Nice Kicks. Check out the full Consortium boutique list here.